I took Ginger to the Vet yesterday for a post-op check. I mentioned that he had been chewing on his stitches. The Vet said he had actually removed one of the stitches. The wound was fine, thank goodness. To make sure he won't doesn't keep bothering his wound he has to wear one of those goofy looking collars around his neck. The poor boy! He keeps bumping into things. He likes to rub against legs and furniture with his head but he can't do that with his collar on. He can't even scratch behind his ears. I feel so sorry for him. He looks just miserable with that collar on. But, of course, it is for his own good. He goes back on Monday to have his stitches removed. That will be a relief for the both of us.

Today is Brad's birthday. Following our tradition I made him spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. I was a little concerned about how the meatballs would turn out -- but they were delish. As was the sauce.

I was concerned about the meatballs because I haven't had much luck with ground beef here. I bought some from the local Safeway for burgers and they turned out tough and gristly. The ground beef from the commissary wasn't much better. So this time I got the meat from Sainsbury's, which is turning out to be the best grocery store in the area. I wanted to get both ground beef and ground pork for the meatballs. I purchased the beef from the meat counter and asked the butcher if he had any ground pork. He told me I had to get it from the aisle. Sooo, I went to where he had directed me and I found the ground pork. But I must admit I was bit grossed out. The ground pork was lying in a layer of blood. When I picked up one package some of it leaked out. Uggghh! So I went back to the man behind the counter and asked if he could grind some pork for me fresh. To my surprise, I discovered Sainsbury's meat counter doesn't have a "mincer". But the butcher was so nice. He walked with me back to the pork section to see if there were any other options. I turned my nose up at all the blood in the package, but he just said it's because it was so fresh and juicy. He wasn't mean or snotty about it. In fact he was rather accommodating. He selected a package for me and put it in a plastic bag so I wouldn't have to worry about it leaking.

I unpacked the last box today. Yayyyyy!! Most of the rooms have been arranged so far. We've managed to find places to store most of our stuff. My office is a bit of a mess, being the holding room for lots of books, files, magazines and many of my print/design samples. I think I definitely need another bookcase and filing cabinet. There's also some stuff that has been shoved into the garage till I can figure out what to do with it. We've hung some prints, but most are stacked in a corner of the living room till we have time to hang them. So, I'm feeling a bit relieved now and ready to open our home to our first visitors this weekend. Michiko, my friend from Japan will be stopping by with her friend Fumiko. They arrive on Thursday p.m. and depart Sunday a.m. -- a bit of a whirlwind trip, but it will certainly be nice to see them.

Ginger had minor surgery today to remove a lump on his right foreleg. He's had the lump for quite a while now; I had first discovered it in Japan. Have been keeping an eye on it. It seemed to be getting bigger so I decided to let the Vet remove it. To my great relief it was not a tumor, but just some harmless fatty tissue.

This morning my siblings were surprisingly in tune as they serenaded me for my birthday over breakfast on Sunday morning. I made a wish as I blew out the flame on Joe's lighter. Definitely a birthday I won't forget! I received some really nice gifts as well: 3 Jazz CDs from Domenica and Brenda, leather gloves from Joe and Phyllis, earrings and a top from JoAnn.

We made good time on the road home. It took us only 2 and a half hours to get home. JoAnn and I were kinda tired when we got back to her place so we just hung out and watched some TV.

I somehow lost my original post about Shawn and Liz's wedding, so I'm reposting it now. Not the original text, which I'm sure was much more eloquent than what follows.

We all had a fabulous time. The ceremony was a very traditional Catholic service. The reception was a lot of fun. There was tons of delicious food, the music was fab . . . a good time was had by all. All the Genovese sibs were out on the dance floor at one time or another. Even my cousin Sammy, who is a priest was boogieing (sp?) down.

We got lost going to the church. But that was nothing compared to how we lost our way going to the reception. We called the reception hall about 3 times while on the road and just couldn't find the place. It was sooo frustrating.

After the reception, we all headed back to the hotel. We being Vince, JoAnn, Domenica, Brenda and I. It was late and we were all pretty tired. Vince had to leave early the next morning and he suggested we all meet in his room to say goodbye. I didn't think much about this odd suggestion. I stopped off in my room first and then headed over to Vince's. When I opened the door, I saw that the light was out. I said, "It's dark in here." They all yelled "Surprise!!" My birthday was only minutes away. Vince had lured me over to his room so he could give me my present; two jazz CDs. And we did say goodbye, too. It was really great seeing him again.

It took us four hours to get to East Brunswick, NJ, from Baltimore. We made two stops along the way and hit some pretty heavy traffic. We couldn't figure out how to get the CD player in the car to work so we amused ourselves by noting ugly logos on trucks. The winner, however, in the ugly logo category was none other than the NJ Turnpike itself. Domenica believes it has not been changed in the many years it has graced the roads. Near the end of the trip the passengers in the back seat got a little slap happy. JoAnn and Domenica serenaded Brenda and I with off key renditions of such favorites as "There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly" and "There's a Hole in the Bucket".

We checked into our cozy rooms in the Hilton and tried to get in touch with Joe to find out where the rehearsal dinner was to be held. We were all invited to attend. Couldn't find Joe and we left messages for him at the front desk, and in the two rooms booked under his name. We were still waiting to hear from Joe when Vince arrived. He flew in to Newark from California. We decided to hang out at the bar from which we could watch people entering the hotel. I turned Vince onto Black Russians. We had almost given up hope on getting info about the rehearsal dinner when Vince discovered that directions to an American Legion Hall had been faxed to us at the front desk. We thought it was a map to the reception, but a phone call from Liz, Shawns' intended, informed us it was a map to the rehearsal dinner. We piled into the car around 7:15 p.m. (The dinner was to start at 7). It was dark and raining. We were in a strange place. The directions were confusing. We got there late. Vince did an admirable job of driving despite these less than desirable conditions.

There was a lot of Italian food at the hall, served buffet style. Plenty of desserts as well. We got to meet some of Liz's family, saw Fawnda (whom we hadn't seen in years), and were surprised to see that Santina and Sammy were there as well. The biggest surprise came to Domenica, though, cuz she found out at the last minute that she was scheduled to do a reading during the wedding ceremony.

I arrived in Baltimore last night right on schedule at 30 minutes before midnight. JoAnn was waiting there ready to take me to her place where I'll be staying while in Maryland. The journey was long and tedious. My four-hour layover at Heathrow went by quicker than I imagined it would. I spent a while wandering through the terminal looking for something to eat and was surprised at the lack of eatery selections. I had been routed to the international terminal, so perhaps it is not as large as other terminals at Heathrow. There were two sit down restaurants: one was a loud and smoky pub and then there was a rather pricey French brasserie. I opted for a bagel from a deli. It wasn't bad. Then I broke down and got a latte from Starbucks as I was craving coffee and the latte I got from another stand was simply awful. Then I browsed through some of the many shops before settling down into a chair to continue reading my book. I'm really enjoying all the references to places in Baltimore.

I sat next to a woman from Yakima, Washington, on my flight from London to Chicago. We chatted pleasantly during our flight; she manages a horse rescue farm in Washington state. She rescues horses that have been deemed too old or ornery by their original owners and finds homes for them so the don't end up as food. Sounds like very rewarding work. Once we landed at Chicago it was a mad dash to claim my baggage, go through customs, recheck my baggage, take a train to my departure terminal, check in at the ticket counter and make my way to the departure gate. Whew. I only had one hour in which to do all that. Wish I could've had the four-hour layover in chicago rather than Heathrow. Then again, I think not! I really don't care for O'Hare airport.

Today JoAnn and I went shopping. We had a very productive outing. I bought a little black dress which I will wear to Brad's office Christmas party. I also picked up some jeans, stockings and sweaters.

Tomorrow I hit the road -- again! JoAnn, Domenica, Brenda and I will be driving up to New Jersey for the wedding. We will be attending the rehearsal dinner on Friday night, then we'll meet Mary Lou and Ed for breakfast on Sat. morning. The wedding takes place at 3 p..m on Saturday, reception is at 6 p.m. Then on Sunday we're back on the road again.

I'm at Leeds Bradford airport waiting to board my flight to London. Brad dropped me off at the airport about an hour ago. It was a quick and easy drive to the airport, but we left in plenty of time to get here, not knowing what kind of traffic or wrong turns we might encounter. Once I arrive in London I'll have a four-hour layover before boarding my flight to the States. Then I will need to change planes once more in Chicago before reaching my final destination: BWI. I'm due to arrive at 11:30 p.m. Ugggh -- I've got a long day ahead of me. I brought a book along that should help pass the time: "In a Strange City" by Laura Lippman. It's a murder mystery that takes place in Baltimore and involves the annual visitor to the Poe gravesite.

We returned from Glasgow today. We had good weather for the ride home and made good time. Even with a stop at a shopping center on the way home the trip still only took four hours. We thoroughly enjoyed our trip to Glasgow. We found the Glaswegians to be friendly and their city to be vibrant and quite liveable. We were very lucky with the weather. It never got too cold and we were only rained on once and even then it was just a light rain. We fully expect we'll return to Glasgow. Next time around we'll make sure to allow time for a side trip to Loch Lomond.

I wasn't too keen on returning to our house full of boxes. The task ahead seems so daunting. Especially when you consider that I will be flying to the States on Wednesday. Will be back home for a week during which time I'll be attending my nephew's wedding. It will a chance to catch up with friends and family and fit in a dentist appt. When I return I'll really need to buckle down to work. I expect two Japanese friends to stay for a short visit at the end of October. I hope I can get the house in shape by then!

We probably should have gone to Loch Lomond. We decided instead to stay in town and explore some of the sights we missed yesterday. Problem was that many of the places we intended to go to were closed:

* Kelvingrove Art Museum and Gallery -- closed for renovation until early 2006
* The Hunterian Museum (which includes a reconstruction of Charles Rennie Mackintosh's home) -- closed on Sundays
* Antique and craft stores in the West End and the city center -- all closed on Sunday

Soooo... we sought out the sights that were open:
* Museum of Transport -- thoroughly enjoyable with a room full of fabulous model ships and much more. Admission Free!
* Gallery of Modern Art -- saw a great special exhibition of self portraits. Admission Free!
* Willow Tea Room Annex -- crowded and smoky and unsatisfying sweets with our tea
* Shopping in the city center -- Many stores closed on Sundays; of those that were open, many were overpriced designery boutiques; picked up some nice Christmas cards at John Lewis dept. store, though

We had a fabulous dinner in the West End at The Ubiquitous Chip. We both agree it was one of the best meals out we have ever had. And, incidentally, the most expensive. The menu was delightfully innovative; the dishes we had were superb. The winner of the evening for us was the starter: Broccoli creme caramel. Sort of the same consistency as creme brulee but made with broccoli. It had a slight sweet taste to it. The crispy cheese wafer served on top was the perfect accompaniment. It may sound like a strange dish, but it was really fabulous. The atmosphere was very cozy and all the waiters were nice and friendly. What a delightful way to top off the evening.

We are in Glasgow for the long weekend (Columbus Day holiday). We drove up yesterday. Took us about 4 hours. We're staying at the Kirklee Hotel, a charming B&B in the "fashionable" West End. We spent Friday afternoon just wandering through the city center and admiring much of the architecture. Today we went to Glasgow Cathedral, the People's Palace and the Tenement House. All very interesting. Glasgow is a sprawling city, with the sights spread out. Most of the public transport is via buses. They're everywhere. Luckily our end of town is hooked up with the city center by the subway. It's called the Clockwork Orange because it runs a circular route and the signs and trains themselves are a bright orange color. The cars of the subway trains are so small. the first train I saw emerge from the impossibly short tunnel looked like a toy model. The platforms are very short as each train is only about 3 cars long, at most. The stations, though brightly lit and seemingly safe, were a bit on the stinky side (mostly smelling of mildew). I couldn't bear to look down on the tracks, where a scummy stream of water lay. Inside, the cars are lined with fabric covered benches, stained here and there. Brad only has a few inches of headroom in the tallest part of the car. It's a rough ride as well. One must cling on for dear life as the train hurtles through the tunnels. I don't mean to sound down on Glasgow because of the state of the subway system. If I hadn't been such a regular on the Tokyo subway system I probably wouldn't have thought twice about the Clockwork Orange.

We must make a decision for tomorrow.... make a side trip to Loch Lomond (a half hour away) or continue exploring Glasgow.

Comments on comments

The comments feature in my blog got all screwed up lately. I was using freeware from a site called Blogspeak for the comments feature. Apparently, and I don't understand all of this, someone bombarded his comments function with a virus-laden script. First I received a warning that it was possible for the virus to spread if someone opened one of my comments. Before I could react, I received another message that the virus threat had been removed, but the end result is that I lost all the comments that had been previously stored on my blog.

I was so thrilled when I added the comments feature -- now it's turned into a bit of a headache. And I hate that the comments might possibly carry viruses with them. I guess I'll hold off before I attempt adding comments to the blog again.

Boxes, boxes everywhere. We hope we will be able to find a place to store all our stuff. We are missing all the closets we had in Tokyo. None of the places we looked at in England had much storage space. To make matters worse, we still haven't received all our stuff! The shipment that went by air with our "essential" housewares has yet to arrive. Seems it took a wrong turn once it arrived in England and was shipped back to the U.S. by mistake. This has definitely been one of our most difficult moves.